HighQ was founded in 2001 and we have worked hard to build an exceptional reputation for delivering leading-edge software to some of the world's largest law firms, investment banks and corporations. We are a privately owned business and always strive to provide the best service possible to all of our clients.

HighQ was founded in 2001 and we have worked hard to build an exceptional reputation for delivering leading-edge software to some of the world's largest law firms, investment banks and corporations. We are a privately owned business and always strive to provide the best service possible to all of our clients.

8 reasons enterprise social collaboration is here to stay

Digital has changed the way we live and work forever. In handing us the entire distribution channel it has made the world smaller, cheaper to navigate and also more social.

Initially such change left businesses defensive. Challenged by the way employees could communicate freely many organisations feared it would create inefficiencies and distraction.

The reality however is quite different. An understanding of enterprise social collaboration has created huge efficiency opportunities across every kind of business and increasingly those at the cutting edge are leveraging it to create new ways of working.

Evolution

That’s incredible growth by anyone’s standards and there’s good reason according to management consultancy McKinsey & Co. The global business advisory company estimates that $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in annual economic value could be created through the use of social technologies, two­‐thirds of that coming from social collaboration between and within companies. The consultancy forecasts potential productivity gains of up to 30%.

Why use it in the workplace?

It is estimated that 75% of enterprise­‐level businesses will adopt some kind of social collaboration platform during 2013 such are the gains to be had from creating a singular space from which to share ideas, processes and progress.

The overriding conclusion was that such platforms assist efficiency in the following four ways:

Encourages sharing

Captures knowledge

Enables action

Empowers people

That sounds all very ‘nice’ right? But what is the reality for those using such systems? Why should we all be excited about how they can help larger businesses?

Below we look at eight reasons for joining the ‘movement’:

1. Software as a service. Many collaboration platforms are provided as a service and therefore there is no software to install and manage, meaning very little resource drain on the IT side.

2. Designed to be simple and easy to use. The user experience is an important factor in adoption, therefore inspiration is taken from consumer grade tools to ensure they are intuitive.

3. Communities can be created quickly and are accessible. The entire point of enterprise collaboration is that the ‘social’ element defines an ‘inclusive and open’ experience.

4. Drive important discussions and communications out of inaccessible silos. Functionality like microblogging, wikis and notifications allow you to drive content out of email.

5. Create and share in a single system, seamlessly. Platforms put an end to multiple version issues and enable people in completely different locations to work on things TOGETHER.

6. Control access to content. Manage security at a document or post level if you want to it’s that easy, while other content items can be open to all.

7. Manage your global workforce. Many organisations have teams that are spread across the globe, bring them together in a single place to build community and a sense of purpose.

8. Drive internal engagement. An accessible management team that is able connect with its workforce creates a sense of ‘being’ and improves efficiency.

There are, of course, many more reasons to consider such a platform but what is clear is such software has evolved to find the right middle ground between useful professional tool and a fun-­to-­use social platform. And if you believe the numbers the time to adopt is now.

Ben is responsible for HighQ Publisher product and the associated services delivered to its clients. Ben also provides consulting and focuses on the application of modern social and collaborative concepts usually found in the consumer world and applying them to today's typical business challenges to enhance productivity, improve both internal and external communication and knowledge management. He is more of a people person than a technologist and is driven by great user experience. He enjoys working closely with clients and colleagues to ensure the successful delivery of solutions which help clients derive the most value from their investment in HighQ software. He has over 10 years legal, social and content publishing technology experience.

Related posts

Back in 2012, our COO Stuart Barr looked at the two hot topics of technology at the time – social software and cloud computing. He concluded the two were not mutually exclusive and that secure social software is the way forward for enterprises looking to increase productivity and reduce costs. So, what is the state of secure social collaboration today? […]

“Social” in the enterprise context means connecting people. It means associating work, content, knowledge or data with the person who created it. It means being able to see something that someone has done within a collaboration platform and viewing their profile where you can see what else they’ve done and get an idea of their field of expertise. […]